Abstract
The effects of pruning on growth were investigated on 19 years old stand of Picea glehnii M. during 14 growing seasons to examine the validity of intense pruning in early stage. The stand contained plots of four different degrees of prunings, i.e. non-pruning as control, light, middle and intense pruning, which were estimated that approximately 0, 30, 55, and 80% of total amount of leave were removed for every individuals in each plot, respectively. Pruning had little effect on height growth. On the other hand, the reductions of increment in diameter correlated with the degree of pruning intensity. However, these reductions were occurred only during two years after pruning and there were no significant differences among plots in diameter increment during the last 10 years. In addition, the largest 1/3 individuals in diameter from each plots did not show significant differences in diameter increment among plots. These results suggest that intense pruning on young aged stand is effective when prunings are applied to dominant individuals.
